Does Big Data = Big Hype?

Hiring a PHD or data scientist will not automatically make your company an expert in the use of your company data. Neither will having too much data at your disposal give you a competitive advantage. Certainly, data collection and technical knowledge is necessary, (you have to have that bat to play the game), but business perspective is critical.

Companies can have access to all the data in the world, but the first step is to avoid searching for a needle in the haystack by starting with the companies’ overarching objectives. When it comes to big data, the biggest ideas and opportunities often involve thinking small – that is, in terms of specific, discrete insights about customers that leads to execution. Having clear and specific objectives will guide the data gathering and analysis, and ensure the initiative is meaningful to the business.

At Effective Intelligence (EI), we provide value to organisations by giving them an outside in perspective on customer intelligence and effective data-driven business strategies. Most of the companies EI assists largely have internal limitations such as:

The lack of trust in the existing data

Time is monopolized by data fixing – there is no time for creative business analytics

Lack of agreement around what the key metrics are

A focus on vanity KPI’s

Not everyone understands what different metrics mean and how to interpret them

The analysis is not always tailored to the audience style; therefore it may not resonate.

“Data enhancement from external sources is the single largest lever to value-add, but can only work efficiently from a solid base. We understand that many corporations encounter these hiccups, but this should not be a deterrent for deploying data-driven strategies. By enhancing the data from external sources, you’re not constrained by a preconceived notion of how the data should be related, but can finally have the insight to how it is truly related” says Julian Ardagh, CEO of Effective Intelligence.

Ardagh says that EI solutions make the big chunks of data pretty easy to digest – especially because there is this fire hose effect of information flooding your ability to comprehend it at the same speed. This makes an investment in analytics and the right partners a critical piece of the data puzzle.

An analysis team shouldn’t have to worry about the size of the data, just as a homeowner doesn’t worry about the amount of wood it took to build his/her house. Business should care about the questions they need to answer and the tools to use to find those answers. At the end of the day, the data strategy needs to start at the top, with CEO’s empowering and requiring their organisations’ to become data-driven. This is true change-management, the CEO must lead, but also push the organisation to become data-driven not just with strategic decision-making, but also in its daily operations.

Yep… Data, Data, Data… We all want it, we all got it. But do you have the right culture and partner to help achieve your objectives?